City man charged with killing boy, 13 drug link suspected

June 23, 1992|By Michael James | Michael James,Staff Writer

A 29-year-old Southwest Baltimore man has been charged in the killing of 13-year-old Antwan "Troy" Stewart, the seventh-grader found shot to death Saturday in what police believe was a drug-related murder.

Kevin Felipa, of the 500 block of S. Beechfield Ave., was arrested Sunday night and charged with first-degree murder following an interview at police headquarters, said Agent Doug Price, a police spokesman.

Mr. Felipa had gone to talk with homicide detectives after learning that they wanted to question him and others who were seen in the area of the shooting, Agent Price said.

"They still don't know his connection with the boy," Agent Price said. "All we know is that after the homicide, witnesses mentioned his name as somebody who was in the area."

Police believe the motive for the crime was in some way drug-related because officers found several empty plastic bags -- typically used by drug dealers to package cocaine -- on the boy's body.

The Stewart youth was found dead at 4:30 a.m. Saturday in the 2300 block of Whittier Ave., about four blocks from his home in the 3500 block of Holmes Ave.

His parents, John and Emmaline Stewart,said he apparently slipped out of the house while they were sleeping.

Police knocked on the family's door about 5 a.m. Saturday to ask Mr. and Mrs. Stewart to identify their son, who was lying dead in the street in a pool of blood.

Witnesses to the shooting, which occurred in the Greater Mondawmin neighborhood just west of Druid Hill Park, told police they saw several people in the area, including Mr. Felipa, police said.

Neighbors said that the area is a heavy drug-trafficking zone and that several drug-related slayings have occurred there in the past six years.